John Cleese has branded the Daily Telegraph a Tory propaganda sheet, after it was fined £30,000 for breaking marketing rules when by emailing readers urging them to vote Conservative.

The famed comedian and actor, who occasionally offers punditry on UK politics and media, surfaced on social media to lambast broadsheet editors for a move which saw them contact hundreds of thousands of people to call on them to back David Cameron in May's general election.

Cleese then took aim at the Telegraph's owners, the Barclay brothers, suggesting that the reason "all its best writers have left" was down to staffs' poor salaries, which he claimed came at the expense of advertising revenue boosts.

Wonder why all its best writers have left ? Because they command decent salaries,which cuts into the Barclay brothers' advertising revenue